Harrods is using a range of smells positioned throughout the store. Coconut oil is used in the ladies swimwear department. The smell of freshly morn grass is surprisingly used in the Garden Living department and the luxurious pomegranate in the Luxury Accessories Department.
Lime is generally known in the scent world to be an uplifting aroma. Harrods is using in not only on their receipts and store guides but lime and basil is also being dispensed from entrances three, five and ten. The success of using smells at the point of purchase has been proven by The Aroma Co who have increased pick-up rates by 20% to 89%, and doubled redemption rates.
Other stores who also surprisingly use this technology include Thompson Travel agency who have actually been using this technology since 2002! They agree this technology can be used to differentiate you from the competition. But when the idea does eventually catch on, the brand association and emotional connection that is forged with a simple scent will be extremely difficult to break.
The scent is being used in three quarters of all stores and plans are to roll out this technology to all stores. The exotic coconut smell is reported to improve impulsive purchases.
ScentAir are at the forefront of the retail market, see my smell o vision report for more details. They are rapidly expanding their client banks and as reported in previous posts and in my report have Pepsi, Bank Leumi, coca-cola, Bloomingdale's and a whole host of other major brands under their belt. Other major brands including Sony and Samsung are reported to have tried scent marketing, samsung has created its on signature scent and Sony has been testing with notes of mandarin orange and vanilla.
“The smell in the atmosphere of a supermarket can effect consumer spending. THE FUTURIST reports that in experiments in supermarkets in Japan, it was found that spending went up when the smell of lemon was added…”
Of coarse with the recent decline in the price of this technology and the economic downturn it seems the cuts in interest rates and VAT alone wont be enough to drive consumers back into the stores. Scent marketing can be used to help attract, maintain and up sell these customers. It may well be possible the price elasticity of demand can be improved for those goods that tend to suffer in these times. SOME ONE PLEASE DO A STUDY INTO THIS. I guess as Dale Carnegie was right when she said "When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion" - How to Win Friends & Influence People. I'm sure the Harrods shoppers aren't feeling the credit crunch!
We all the know the Publication called the Economist right? Well The Economist’s The World in 2009 has given a clear cut go ahead to Scent Marketing. This conclusion is supported by leading proponets in the industry including the Scent Marketing Institute. This is not the First time Harrods has set the standard; in 1998 other follwed as Harrods introduced the world's first escalator system.
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